The Prowess of Weeds

Jessica Balsam is overwhelmed by the prowess of weeds. She was once driven to tears when surveying the bindweed aggressively twining its way around her yard. Her pulse quickens when the scotch broom blooms along the interstate. She invents elaborate schemes to stop its spread, usually involving trenches, fire, and sharp apparatuses that attach to her car.

However powerful they appear to be, though, weeds are nothing more than introduced species that depend on us – and our habit of disturbing soil – for survival. Michael Pollan sums it up in this early essay, “Weeds are not the Other. Weeds are us.”

It is this fascination that prompted Jessica to create a series of works that commemorate weeds that haunt Tacoma. The comics on her Weed Tins tell snippets of how the weeds came to inhabit our disturbed plots and forgotten corners. Luther Burbank introduced the Himalayan Blackberry as a hardier alternative to its native cousin. Lady Bird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act of 1965 ushered in an era of non-native plantings, probably including scotch broom along I-5. Dandelion, as we all know, was brought to the New World as food. It was a favorite of Jessica's grandfather, who ate it in salad while everyone else had iceberg lettuce.


Jessica Balsam, Weeds of Tacoma Tin #3: Bindweed, tin, pen and ink, 4½ (height) x 3¼ (diameter) inches, 2009.

Jessica Balsam is a part of the Telephone Room Gallery's Hello! show, on view from February 18 to April 30, 2009. Viewable by appointment—please email us. Don't be shy.

More Congratulations...

Ellen Ito will be one of the artists included in the Imperfect Articles exhibition at GOFFO of the NEXT 2009 art fair in Chicago from May 1 - 4, 2009. GOFFO focuses on multiples and editions.

Imperfect Articles merges a clothing brand and site-less gallery, taking an experimental approach to curatorial practice with limited-edition, hand-dyed and hand screen-printed t-shirts.

More info at:
http://www.nextartfair.com/
www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews4-21-08.asp


Marc Dombrosky (http://www.marcdombrosky.blogspot.com/) is currently included in the Finds Refined show at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, Washington.

Finds Refined
March 14 - June 14, 2009
"Finds Refined is a group show featuring artists who use found matter in their work as intrinsic elements, whether for aesthetic qualities or to incorporate the history or past life of the material as part of the conception of the work..."
...read and see more at www.museumofnwart.org/index.php?page=current-exhibitions&exhibID=8

We are happy to say that both of these artists are currently a part of the Telephone Room's Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009).
Viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.

Congratulations to...

Matt Johnson – for receiving one of seventeen 2009-2010 Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) grants.

Started in 1999, the Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP) is a biennial program to support individual artists who reside in Tacoma in their creation of new artwork.
...details at www.tacomaculture.org/arts/funding.asp

Jeremy Mangan – who currently has a show at The Helm gallery in Tacoma and an upcoming solo show at the Telephone Room in June.

March 19 - April 9, 2009 at The Helm
"...my current work is a series of drawings and paintings of barn or shed-like structures elevated and supported by stilts. I hope these images allude to the strength, usefulness, and beauty, but also the hubris, precariousness, and ridiculousness, of human ambition."
...more at www.thehelmgallery.com/?page_id=155

Nicholas Nyland – who currently has a show at the brand new OHGE Ltd. gallery in Seattle.

Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere
New work by Nicholas Nyland
March 21 - May 9, 2009
"Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere includes works in a range of media (painting, works on paper, paper mache and ceramics) that are a world apart."
...read and see more at www.ohgeltd.com/Ohge_Ltd/Past/Entries/2009/3/26.html

Elise Richman – who currently has a show with four other artists at SOIL in Seattle.

Forces and Formations
Kevin Bernstein, Jonathan Bucci, Claire Johnson, Chauney Peck, Elise Richman
April 1 - May 2, 2009
"Natural forces and formations provide a jumping off point, a reference that inspires each artist’s highly personal visual logic and evocative manipulation of materials."
...read and see more at http://soilart.org/archives/apr2009

Gala Bent – who currently has a show at Gallery4Culture in Seattle for the month of April.

Overgrown
April 2 – May 1, 2009
"In a dozen or so works on paper, Bent has produced an enchanting primer on the role of imagination in our understanding of reality."
...more at www.4culture.org/publicart/gallery/2008_2009/bent.htm

Shannon Eakins and Marc Dombrosky – who have an upcoming show at Fulcrum Gallery in Tacoma.

Phantasm Chasm
April 23 – May 31, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 23rd 6-10 pm
Fulcrum Social/Artist Talk: Sunday, May 10th 6 pm
"Phantasm Chasm uneasily unites some of the failed opportunities, tragic events, and myths in Tacoma’s past."
...more at www.fulcrum.oliverdoriss.com

All of these artists were nice enough to be a part of the Telephone Room's Hello! show (February 18 - April 30, 2009).
Viewable by appointment at thetelephoneroom@gmail.com.